SCF TIP: Don't take crack to the courthouse

Courtesy of Boston Globe

When Joseph President walked into the screening area of Suffolk Superior Court yesterday, a court officer asked him to hand over his bottle of Pepsi.

The bottle President gave to the court officer split in two, and the bottom half fell to the floor, exposing a plastic bag with 11 smaller bags of what was believed to be crack, said Jake Wark, a spokesman for the Suffolk district attorney's office.

President grabbed the bottle and the bag and fled the courthouse, leaving them in a nearby garbage barrel, Wark said. The court officer quickly retrieved the bottle and the drugs, and called for a nearby state trooper to arrest President, Wark said.

A few minutes later, the 23-year-old from Roslindale was in cuffs and being escorted by State Police to Boston Municipal Court, where he pleaded not guilty to a charge of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine, prosecutors said. President was originally in superior court on ``court business," Wark said.

Neither relatives nor a Melrose attorney representing President returned calls. He was held on $10,000 bail and is scheduled to return to court Oct. 12.